by Rev. D. H. Kuiper

How
one view the events which surround the return of Jesus
Christ in glory is determined largely
by the interpretation given to the term millennium (thousand years
- see Rev. 20:1-7). As was pointed out
in the previous article, there are three such interpretations:
post-, pre-, and a-millennialism. We have seen
that post-millennialism is that optimistic view which holds that
Christ shall return after the millennium (a
long period of time, not necessarily an exact thousand years), and
find the world thoroughly Christianized
with only a few vestiges of sin remaining. It will be a golden
age of righteousness and peace, the majority
of mankind shall be saved, and war shall have disappeared from the
face of the earth. It was shown that
such a conception cannot be harmonized with many portions of the
Holy Scriptures, and therefore must be
rejected.

Considering premillennialism, the first clue one receives
that this view cannot be the teaching of
the Word of God is the astounding lack of agreement between the
premillennialists themselves. If Scripture
presented the last things as this view insists, should there not
be unanimity on all but a few minor points
perhaps? But this is not the case. The definition which
we offer is, therefore, not representative of all
premillennialists, but is general enough to cover most: historic
premillennialism is the view of the last
things which holds that the second coming of Christ will be followed
by a period of peace (an exact one
thousand years) during which time Christ will reign on this earth
in an earthly kingdom; then shall come the
end. A more radical form of this view is dispensationalism.
The dispensationalist divides the history of
mankind into seven distinct periods or dispensations, and teaches
that God deals with the human race during
each period according to a different principle: innocence,
conscience, human government, promise, law,
grace, kingdom. Also, this view insists that the Church will
be removed from the earth before the great
tribulation (see Matt. 24:29). This latter view, espoused
by John N. Darby in England about 1830, and
disseminated widely in this country by the Scofield Reference Bible,
is really the unique phenomenon called
American Premillennialism. It is not taught in the Bible but
in the Scofield Reference Bible. Do not
confuse the two. The Bible is the infallible Word of God;
the Scofield Reference Bible is a deceiving
commentary that contains "explanatory notes" on the same page with
the text of Scripture.
Premillennialism has never been incorporated into any of the creeds,
but is the private interpretations of
individuals with many denominations. It has never been maintained
by outstanding theologians not taught
in seminaries where scholarship and exegesis are prominent, but
by various Pentecostal and Holiness
groups, and Bible institutes. Today this seems to be changing
a bit. Premillennialism seems to be making
little inroads also into the Reformed community. It is to
counteract this trend, and to afford God's people
some Scriptural guidelines for judgment that we briefly examine
this erroneous view.

Let us get it clearly in mind. Its main tenants are:
1. The Jews are God's originally intended people, they are His Kingdom
people. To them God spoke the
entire Old Testament and to them He promised the Messiah.
2. When Christ came, He was not recognized nor believed on by the
majority of the Jews. This contingency
was not foreseen by the prophets, nor was it in the original plan
of God. However, since Israel, the twelve
tribes, rejected the Christ, as an expedient He resorts to the Gentiles,
which people constitute the Church in
distinction from the Kingdom. Thus the Church is a parenthesis
in history. It began at the cross and shall
end at the beginning of the millennium. Also, this implies
that Scripture has been written for two distinct
recipients. Part is for the Jews - the entire Old Testament,
most of the gospels and especially the Sermon on
the Mount, and parts of Revelation. The epistles plus other
parts of the book of Revelation are for the
Church.
3. At any moment, without signs or announcement, there shall be
a Rapture. See I Thess. 4:13-17, Matt.
24:40-41, and Matt. 25:13. By the rapture is meant the sudden
and secret coming of Christ to take to
Himself in the air the bodies of the resurrected and living saints.
The wicked dead remain in the grave.
This is Christ's coming for His saints and is known as the first
resurrection.
4. Next is a seven year period called the Tribulation (the seventh
week of Dan. 9:24-27). During this time
all the events of Rev. 4:9 and Matt. 24 take place. The Church,
however, is not under tribulation but is with
her Lord in the air.
5. Then Christ comes with His saints to this earth again in the
Revelation. At this time there is a second
resurrection of those saints who died during the tribulation.
The second coming of Christ ushers in the
Millennium.
6. With the advent of the Millennium, prophetic time resumes, for
God returns to His favored people, the
Jews. Christ comes to this earth and reigns in an earthly
kingdom of peace and prosperity, a kingdom which
has its center in Jerusalem. The Jews are restored to Palestine,
and at the sight of Messiah are turned to
Him in a great national conversion. At the beginning of this
period Satan is bound, and Christ destroys the
Antichrist in the battle of Armageddon. The curse is removed
from nature: deserts bloom and wild animals
are tame. Great numbers of Gentiles are also converted and
incorporated into this Kingdom.
7. At the end of the Millennium Satan is loosed for a short time.
8. Then is the third resurrection, that of the wicked at the end
of the world. They are judged with the Devil
and his angels, found wanting and assigned forever to feel the sting
of hell.
9. Finally, the eternal state with all the fullness of heaven and
emptiness of hell is ushered in. Some say all
the redeemed mingle in a new heaven and a new earth. Others
keep the Kingdom and the Church separate
forever, the one in earthly Palestine, the other in heaven.

The above is a highly condensed, greatly streamlined presentation
of the matter. Some authors list
as many as 22 separate events. Many premillennialist preachers
must resort to a complicated chart spread
across the front of the church building to make sure they are being
followed. A brief catalog of the
important premillennial points is as follows: seven dispensations,
eight covenants, two second comings,
three or four resurrections, and at least four judgments.
It is difficult to conceive this as the teaching of the
Bible, which was written in simple language for the simple, yea
for babes. To the refreshing,
uncomplicated, clear Word of God we now turn for light on these
matters.

Underlying all Premillennial thought is the separation made
between Old dispensation Israel and
the New dispensation Church. The question is, is Israel God's
Kingdom people and are the Gentiles His
Church? Or is Israel a spiritual concept, so that Israel is
the Church and the Church is Israel? If the basic
unity of the covenant of grace can be established; if Abraham
, for example, and the New Testament
Gentiles are one in the eyes of God; if God deals with His people
in every age according to the same
principle - faith, then Premillennialism falls, and can only be
called an ingenious misuse of Scripture. With
that man of faith Abraham, to whom all Jews proudly traced their
ancestry, God established His everlasting
covenant of grace. Gen.17:7. That covenant was established
also with Abraham's progeny. Gen. 22:17.
The Lord makes clear that in His seed (Christ) all the nations of
the earth shall be blessed. Gen. 22:18> In
the book of Galatians, Paul (the apostle to the Gentiles) takes
up the example of Abraham as he rebukes the
foolish Galatians for their attempted work of righteousness.
In making clear that God accounts faith in
Christ for righteousness, the apostle speaks these amazing words:
"Know ye therefore that they which are
of faith, the same are the children of Abraham." Gal. 3:7.
Later he writes "Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is
written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree:
that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through
Jesus Christ." He concludes this chapter
with the words: "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is
neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor
female, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ's,
then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs
according to the promise." Can anyone miss the unity of God's
work of redemption? Abraham's seed, true
spiritual Israel, is composed of all those who have been given faith
in His dear Son. In close connection
with the above is the fact that Paul also stresses the unity of
the Church of all ages in such passages as Rom.
9:6-9, Eph. 2:19-22, Eph. 4:4-6, and Col. 1:16-20. Jesus Himself
as the Good Shepherd was intensely
conscious of the unity of those given Him of God to redeem; He said
to the Jews on Solomon's porch: "And
other sheep have I which are not of this fold; them also I must
bring and they shall hear my voice; and there
shall be one fold and one shepherd." John 10:16.

Secondly, the text most referred to by the Premillennialists,
I Thess. 4:13-17, simply does not
prove a sudden, silent "rapture", and a separate resurrection of
the righteous and wicked. Rather it teaches:
a visible, noticeable (shout, voice, trump) return of Christ; the
resurrection of the bodies of dead saints
followed immediately by the translation of those saints who are
alive at Christ's coming, without saying
anything about the wicked; that the saints shall forever remain
with their Lord, suggesting not that they
return to this mundane earth again in their glorified, spiritual,
incorruptible bodies, but that they remain with
Christ in heavenly glory! Further, Christ Himself makes clear
there is but one resurrection: "Marvel not at
this: for the hour is coming in which all that are in the
graves shall hear His voice and shall come forth;
they that have done good unto the resurrection of life; and they
that have done evil unto the resurrection of
damnation" John 5:28,29. The Scriptures reveal one second
coming of Christ, one resurrection at His
coming, and one judgment.

At fault is the method of interpretation followed by adherents
of this system. A sound rule is that
difficult passages of the Word, which Rev. 20 certainly is, must
be explained in the light of simpler texts.
One cannot escape the feeling, however, that with this view a preconceived
theory is brought to Scripture,
difficult passages are appealed to as proof, and then the attempt
is made to b ring many simpler passages
into line with the theory. The result is a violent splitting
asunder of the Word, and thus of the redemptive
work of God! But God is one. His Word is one (presented in
two testaments, prophecy and fulfillment),
and redemption is Jesus Christ is one!

Positively, we live near the end of what Rev. 20 calls the
"thousand years". This millennium began
at Pentecost and will end when time and history end. Christ shall
return personally and visibly, shall call
forth the dead from the graves and the seas, shall judge all men
according to their works, and shall bring His
sheep into one fold, the heavenly house of many mansions!
Let the Reformed truth continue to be sounded
"that the Son of God from the beginning to the end of the world,
gathers, defends, and preserves to Himself
by His Spirit and Word out of the whole human race, a Church chosen
to everlasting life, agreeing in true
faith" (Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Day XXI) Blessed are
all those who are living members thereof!

The Rev. Dale H. Kuiper is pastor of Southeast Protestant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan.